Delta Offers Refunds on Safety Issue

Special to the New York Times

Published: July 25, 1987

ATLANTA, July 24—
Delta Air Lines said today that it would offer refunds, even on restricted-fare tickets, to anyone concerned about flying the airline after its recent mishaps.

James L. Ewing 3d, a company spokesman, said the airline has ''had a fraction of a fraction of cancellations'' since Delta's in-flight problems began June 30. The airline's passenger loads and advance reservations remain strong, he added.

Delta's refund policy was announced today but has already been in effect about a week. During that time, 100 to 200 passengers requested refunds, William Berry Jr., another Delta spokesman, said.

Travel agents both in the Southeast and outside the region where Delta is a dominant carrier said that there had been only a slight impact on reservations because of the incidents.

''We've had some people requesting another airline, but we have had no cancellations,'' said Sam Massell of Massell Travel in Atlanta. ''It is sure to be short-lived, as has been the history in any dramatic incident that involved safety.''

The troubles began on June 30 when the pilot of a Boeing 767 inadvertently shut off both engines. On July 7, one of Delta's Boeing 737's, bound for Lexington, Ky., landed instead at Frankfort, Ky., about 20 miles away. Mr. Ewing said at the time that ''both airports have similar runway alignment and city orientation.''

Then, in the most serious of the incidents, a Delta jet bound from London to Cincinnati on July 9 strayed 60 miles off course and came within 100 feet of a Continental Airlines Boeing 747 over the Atlantic Ocean. Delta pilots have been accused of trying to cover up the incident. Finally, on July 12, a Delta jet landed on the wrong runway at Boston's Logan International Airport.

There have been no deaths or injuries connected with any of the incidents. Still, in the glare of publicity, several instances of mechanical problems on various Delta flights have also been reported. Some have caused planes in flight to return to their originating airports.

Mr. Ewing said those mechanical problems were not unusual. ''We have 368 airplanes and 2,261 flights per day, but we still have a fleet dispatch reliability of 99.12 percent,'' Mr. Ewing said in reference to the percentage of Delta flights that are dispatched to the flight line on time.

Mr. Ewing, who said Delta's investor relations department had had no calls about the incidents, conceded, however, that company management had been working nights for more than a week trying to determine if there was any link between the incidents.

The incidents have left the investment community wary, according to Anthony Hatch, an airline analyst with the Argus Research Corporation, in New York. ''Delta has an excellent reputation with passengers, and they've got a lot of good will in the bank,'' Mr. Hatch said earlier this week. ''There are other airlines which have a bad reputation for service and would have some trouble with these kinds of incidents.''

He said he had had no calls from investors worried about the airline's stock. At the same time, Mr. Hatch warned that a poor report card from the Federal Aviation Administration might spell trouble for the airline.

A team of seven pilot inspectors from the F.A.A. began a ''special emphasis surveillance'' of Delta today. Jack K. Barker, a F.A.A. public affairs officer in Atlanta, said the team would remain in Atlanta for three to six weeks studying all aspects of crew training and testing as well as Delta procedures for normal and emergency flight.

On Thursday, Delta reported record earnings for the fiscal year ended June 30 of $263.7 million. It also announced the retirement of its chairman, David C. Garrett Jr., at the mandatory age of 65. Mr. Garrett is to be succeeded by the president, R. W. Allen.